Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's first appointment after the elections is the reappointment of Ambassador Zalman Shoval as the Prime Minister's Special Envoy to the United States and Europe.
Shoval also heads the "U.S. Forum" which operates in coordination with the National Security Council. He does both jobs on a voluntary basis.
Shoval already served as Special Envoy in Netanyahu's present government but had to resign from his position when he contended in the recent Likud primaries.
Shoval will go to Washington next week, in a trip that is coordinated with the Foreign Ministry, in order to take part in a discussion at the United States Institute for Peace (USIP), an independent, nonpartisan conflict management center created by Congress to prevent and mitigate international conflict.
He will also meet American media figures and discuss matters that are expected to be on the common agenda of the U.S. and the next Israeli government.